Sketch to Scrapbook Page : The Only Home She Knows

I have really missed Shimelle's Sketch to Scrapbook pages lately so was thrilled to see a new example pop up in my Feedly screen. This week's offering was a simple sketch and I had a photo that I really wanted saved just the right size.

 

As you can see it is a really versatile sketch and really good if you have a bit more to say. I swapped my journalling location around, in part because I like the ombre effect in the lower part of the patterned paper. Otherwise I kept pretty faithfully to the sketch.

This photo was taken on a Daddy/daughter outing that Miss Three and hubby went on a few months back. I love MT's outfit and expression in the photo as well as the location of the shot so I knew I wanted it in my album. The paper choice was driven by the colours in the photo and everything else fell into place pretty quickly. 

I had avoided the temptation of the Freckled Fawn embellishment kits until the November offering. I just adore the scout badges and the little wooden houses that I ordered at the same time all worked in with the theme of the story.

 

I wonder if typed journalling would have perhaps looked a little better but I really like the immediacy of handwritten  words even if they are not always as beautiful.

We have started to embrace the Christmas season. Our tree is up and we did some Christmas crafting last week. Such fun! Now we just need to finish ordering our presents for the folks back home and we can relax and enjoy the season. I am not doing anymore than Fat Mum Slim's photo prompts and reading the prompts from Shimelle's JYC this year. We are not travelling over the holiday period and it is just the three of us for Christmas Day so I don't think there will be enough going on.

I am hoping to take MT to see Frozen on Wednesday as a Christmassy treat. The reviews I have seen have been excellent and she is really looking forward to it.

How are you celebrating the season? Are you doing any major Christmas crafting projects? I would love you to link them up so I can check them out.

 

Scrap Busting Layout

After inundating my faithful readers with layouts and posts I took a break for both of us yesterday and today's post is a short and sweet one.

I discovered a bag of pretty scraps from the Elmwood Park kit that I decided to use up. I pulled a pair of photos of Miss Three from last year when she found my lipstick.

I played with this layout and tried adding quite a lot of embellishments and nothing worked so I pared it right back to the photos and the patterned paper stack. I tried a tip I saw from Lilith Eeckels and stapled my stack together using my tiny attacher and then adhered parts of that stack with my glue runner. I loved this technique and I will be using it again. I added a couple of puffy Amy Tangerine stickers top and bottom  of the stack and called it done.

I am so happy to have these photos the star of the layout as they show MT's personality so clearly. Her emotions are so mercurial and fast changing and these two shots really capture that.

I have matched a wedding photo to a piece of patterned paper but I am at a loss as to how to embellish the images. I would love to see anyone else's wedding layouts. If you have some that you love I would really appreciate a link in the comments.

I am totally looking forward to the weekend. We don't have anything planned but sometimes that is just what you need. I am hoping we might manage to hit the pool and get some family relaxation time in. Have a great weekend, wherever you spend it. Oh and Happy Mother's Day to those celebrating on Sunday.

ETA: This is linked up with Shimelle's NSD Use 4x6 photos challenge .

Two For the Work of One Blog Hop

After enjoying the Scrapping Within Limits experience, I was so excited to be invited to take part in a blog hop taking on another one of Shimelle's challenges. Toni from Life Scrapbook Repeat has gathered a great group of crafty types together. This week's challenge is to use a page kit to scrap a page with some current photos and a page with some older photos, using the same limited kit of supplies.


Here is the kit I assembled for this challenge.

A selection of papers including Crate Paper's Little Bo Peep collection, some current Amy Tangerine and Kesi Art.

Some AC Thickers and stickers and a Crate Paper border sheet,

And a selection of embellishements including some Paper Bakery flair, Dear Lizzy stickers and MME labels and enamel dots. I also added some Basic Grey mini envelopes and some Crate Paper veneer.

I struggled a little with the older photos as I do not have any access to many photos prior to moving to Singapore just under three years ago. I printed out some wedding photos and some photos from Scarlett's birth along with a couple of current Scarlett photos. I also decided to work with larger 5 x 7 photos for this challenge.

Crate Paper PP paired with a picture of my sister-in-law holding Scarlett when she was a few hours old

More Crate Paper with a very recent shot of Scarlett dwarfed by the neighbouring condo

I tackled the current picture first as it was not so major as the pictures from Scarlett's birth. This is what I ended up creating.

I am generally really happy with this layout, although I am kicking myself for not including some sequins in my kit as I think a little bit more sparkle would set the photo off nicely. I found I got a lot of good use from the Crate Paper border stickers and the MME word labels to help give my journalling a little more punch. I love the darker wood shapes from Crate Paper. I am also super pleased to have used the last of that KesiArt paper alongside the image. This is one of my favourite papers of late and I am so glad to have used it with a photo I really love.

I love this picture of Miss Three in her school uniform waiting for the bus to pick her up. She is so dwarfed by the surrounding buildings and yet she is such a big girl to me now. The wobbly legged deer reminds me of a creature finding its feet in the world and I feel that is the point in life that Miss Three is reaching. She is balancing being out in the world with needing the love and support of her parents and home. 

Here is a close up of the journalling block.

 The second layout using older photos was a little harder to get started with. Miss Three's birth did not go smoothly and looking at the photos of that day is something I still find quite hard. There is a reason that these are the first photos I have scrapped for her  baby album. I know one day I will write her birth story but it is still a pretty awful thing to relive even three years down the track!

Here is the page I created - well I ended up making this a double paged layout as I had two photos that would work perfectly together.

I still kept the same group of supplies but simply added a second sheet of the background paper that I had in my stash. I used those same pink glittery thickers and veneer from Crate Paper, some Paper Bakery flair and labels from Dear Lizzy and American Crafts. I tried to keep the pages pretty balanced and found a border sticker to use on the right hand page to replicate the label strip from an Amy Tangerine paper on the left hand page.

Here are some closer look at the two pages.

 I love the Crate Paper patterned papers in this layout. They both come from the Little Bo Peep range which is designed especially for baby girls.

The tones of the Dear Lizzy Love label worked really well with the Crate Paper and MME. I love the arrows from the branding strip of an Amy Tangerine paper.

The colours and the sentiment from the Paper Bakery Instalove flair set tied in perfectly with this page. I cannot say enough good things about the darker wood veneer either.

I cannot get over how happy my sister looks in this photo. She was one of my support people at the birth and she must have been exhausted as it was a through the nighter. This photo was taken while I was in surgery after the birth and she got a couple of hours of one on one time with baby.

 The colours and sentiment of the AC stickers worked well here too. I love a bit of grey in a layout and it gave me an excuse to add in some grey enamel dots too.

A similar grouping of veneer, enamel dots and flair to echo the matching layout.

I am loving using the smaller kit to make my memory keeping a much smoother process. I am not a fussy or layers girl so it makes my process so fast. I am definitely going to incorporate this method in my baby album going forward. Now that I have started some pages it is much easier to carry on. Now if only I could do the same with my wedding photos!

The first contributor on the blog hop today is Léa  who you may know online as Alinor. Her beautiful blog  A Freeze Frame  is well worth checking out for scrappy and Project Life inspiration.

Here is her selection of supplies.

Léa went through her stash of both old and new items and chose motifs and colours that she loves. She did the same with papers and embellishments and there are so many lovely pieces here! She decided to go with a neutral grey paper for each background.

Here are her two layouts.

She completed this layout first. I just love the layered frame behind the photo and the complexity of her layered embellishment spots. So many pretty things in each cluster!

Léa then used some of her scraps from the first layout to complete this gorgeous piece. I love the more muted colours and the tag as a photo mat is genius! I am definitely going to have to try that myself. 

Please visit  Léa at her blog to see more detail about her process.

Toni from Life Scrapbook Repeat has taken a different approach on gathering her supplies this time. She wanted to make a dent in her October Afternoon stash. Believe it or not she was able to use pieces from Farm Girl, 9 to 5, Thrift Shop, Five and Dime, Sidewalks, Woodland Park, and Farmhouse! Amazing that the lines all look so co-ordinated.

Here is a more detailed look at Toni's supplies.

A Stunning selection of OA papers

More OA goodness including tidbits, flyers and label stickers

A range of circle punches and adhesives

Thickers and Mini Market stickers and some lovely neutral background papers

And here are the beautiful layouts she made. I still cannot get my head around just how well those quite diverse collections worked together!

I love all the layering behind the central image on this layout and the mist spatters are perfect.

Here is a close up.

I love all the patterned circles stacked here. Such a clever way to add extra dimension.

 

I just love the contrast of the primary colour papers with the neutral background. I love the detailed handwritten journalling too. There is a place for everything in this layout!

I really like the tiny attacher staples holding the circles on. They give the edges room to move and add some movement to the layout. Stunning.

I am sure after seeing this you will be off to check out more of Toni's work at Life Scrapbook Repeat.

Finally here are some more fabulous pieces of inspiration from Senorita Scrapper.

Here are her original supplies.

Lots of lovely boy themed goodness!

And a sneak peek at her two layouts.


I just love all the layering and the amazing way the patterns all work so well together. 



 

 So much vibrant colour and lots of gorgeous little details. 

You need to head straight to her blog and take a closer look.
I loved taking part in this blog hop and hope you will take the time to check out the other blogs as there are some really amazing layouts!

It really does go to show that a little restriction can be a creative help when it comes to this scrappy habit of mine.

Shimelle NSD Challenge 1 : Pensive in Pink

I am not going to get through all 24 of the challenges set by Shimelle by the end of the weekend, but I do intend to have a go at many of them over the next few weeks. I have discovered that I love working within limitations and a challenge is a great way to do that.

The first challenge was to create a layout using pink. I was quite surprised to discover just how few pink supplies I actually had. With the exception of a kit I have put aside for Miss Three's baby album I had only a handful of papers and Thickers to choose from and almost no embellies. I must be a failure on the Little Girl Mummy front!

Here is the layout I created.

The base paper is an older Studio Calico piece from the State Fair collection. I have also included some older My Little Shoebox and a Sassafrass Lass border sticker. The larger letters are AC Thickers and the smaller font is OA Minimarket. I have a little piece of a journalling card sticking out from behind the photo. This is an SC Project Life card. Probably my favourite supply is the photo itself. It is my first origrami photo that I have used on a layout. If you use Instagram run to their website and order some photos. The quality is excellent and they are beautifully packaged. Did I mention they have free worldwide shipping? And no this is not a sponsored post. I just love their work.

I am linking this layout up with Shimelle's site. 

Watch this space as I am taking part in my first ever blog hop right here later today. Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Layouts Within Limits Part Three: The final layout

I was sure I had blogged the final layout from this challenge but it appears I had not. I was totally inspired by seeing how Danielle used this Tim and Beck paper here. She totally rocked it!

Here is what I ended up doing with the same paper.

 Given the theme of rain I decided to turn the paper around so the arrows were falling like rain.I muted a section of the paper with an overlay of the hexagon patterned veneer.  I used a couple of journalling pages from the Basic Grey snippets booklet . The aqua alpha was a perfect choice. Wood veneer clouds, umbrellas and raindrops and it was done.

Here is a close up of the vellum and rain.

I think I am in love with the veneer umbrella. I really should have bought two packets!

I loved working on this project and am really excited to be part of a blog hop later this week tackling another glitter girl challenge. Watch this space!

Layouts Within Limits: The First Two Layouts

I have not had much luck with weather for taking photos of these layouts. I held off almost all day hoping the light would improve but it hasn't. I hope you can still see what is going on.

Here are my background paper choices with my photos.

 

 

I worked on the single picture layout first. I love this photo of my friend Stefanie. She had just started seeing someone who she thought was very special and her happiness shone out of every pore. They recently announced their engagement and it seemed a good time to record her early excitement.

 I used a variety of patterned papers including vellum, Amy Tangerine and a recent orange toned paper from an SC kit. I used a generous handful of Freckled Fawn stars, an Amy Tangerine heart and rub on and a Bananafish Studio card along with the two alphas I chose. Simple and having the limited supplies certainly made the process much quicker than usual.

Here are a couple of close ups.

The next layout I completed was the three instagram photos on the bright Glitz Design stripes.

 

I loved the colours in this paper with the Bananafish Studio tags. I was planning to add more patterned paper to this but left it overnight and decided that the fairly stark layout was perfect as it was. The wood veneer seemed made for the tags even though I hadn't even read them all when I grabbed the pack for my kit. I may add 2012 to this layout somewhere with an additional font as there are no numbers on the smaller SC font.

Here is a close up of a couple of the tags.

I will share the final layout next week as this is already pretty photo heavy. I have really enjoyed working with the limited selection of supplies and can see this being a great way to scrap really efficiently.

Thanks for looking. Have a great weekend.

Layouts Within Limits - Inspiration by Shimelle, Toni, Senorita Scrapper and Danielle

Recently Shimelle Laine's alter ego Glitter Girl posted a new way to approach scrapbooking by limiting your supplies. The video was fantastic and super inspiring. A group of bloggers then decided to take up the challenge and created some wonderful layouts from limited supplies. Check out their blogs here, here and here. Toni From, Senorita Scrapper and Danielle Higginbottom-Brown all made some amazing layouts!

I was really inspired by this and decided to get my kit together. I am hoping to have three layouts to share over the next week or so using these supplies.

 

These are my three background paper choices. I loved a layout Danielle did using the right hand paper so challenged myself to use it as a background too.

 

These are my additional paper choices. I have included some older Cosmo Cricket and Crate Paper, some newer patterned vellum from Studio Calico and a selection of older 6 x 6 Amy Tangerine papers. I hope I have enough!

Next I chose a large and a small alpha. The aqua one is an Amy Tangerine and the navy is a Studio Calico.

And finally a range of embellishments and mists to keep things interesting. 

I was super excited to get my Freckled Fawn order in the mail this past week so I had to include these veneer and plastic goodies for this mini kit!

I am hoping my next post will include my photo choices and at least one completed layout.

Does this kind of limitation of supplies sound freeing or too restrictive to you. I think it will be great but I am will know more once I have tried it out. I am hoping it will hope with mojo enhancement at any rate!

Happy Wednesday!